All the lonely people - A very special Christmas
by JuweWright
Summary: Abby can't stand her empty flat on Christmas Eve so she heads to the lab to get some work done. She meets no-one else but Tony who is also having the worst Christmas of his life. What could have been a black night for both of them turns into something much better. Cute, fluffy, harmless christmassy story. My first in this fandom. Tabby as a-bit-more-than-friends. 2-3 Parts.
1. Chapter 1

**All the lonely people – A very special Christmas**

_A./N. This is my very first NCIS fanfiction although I have been addicted for a long time. It's a Tabby-story. A bit fluff but not much. Hope you like it. It's gonna be two or (more likely) three parts. Might be slightly OOC sometimes, but it's not intentional. Happy about feedback and comments._

**PART A  
**

The wind was cold enough to bite into Abby's face when she walked over to the lab. There was no reason for her to be here. No fresh murder had occurred and there was almost nothing left to work on although new evidence was always welcome to the three trials that were running at the moment.

She should have stayed at home but she could not stand it. The empty flat, the mini Christmas tree she has decorated with "Nightmare before Christmas" merchandise... The humming of the fridge had been too loud and there had been too much too romantic crap on television.

She had tried to call Gibbs and then tried to call McGee but neither of them had answered their phone. The streets were empty; the bus had been empty too. Everyone was having themselves a merry little Christmas and only Abby was left out. So she had decided to go to the lab because she felt more at home and less needy when she was running a PCR.

She entered the building. There were a couple of guards on duty but they took 4 hour shifts during the season and then returned to their families. Abby heard her steps echo through the hallway and felt lonelier than ever.

When she passed the bullpen, she hesitated. There was light! And she could hear someone typing and humming. There was someone in the office. But who? It couldn't be Gibbs otherwise he'd have answered his phone. It couldn't be McGee either although McGee was the most likely to come back to the squad room during Christmas because he had forgotten something.

Curious, Abby went in and was surprised to find Tony at his desk. He looked terrible. Not obviously terrible of course. He was clean shaven and wore a nice blue shirt and new blue jeans. Bus something in his posture and mimics made her think he was not completely happy.

"Hi Tony", she said.

He gave a start and clasped his hand to his heart.

"What the ... are you doing here, Abbs? It's Christmas!"

She shrugged.

"I could return that same question, Tony."

He sighed and nodded.

"Okay, you're right. Let's not discuss our personal bullshit here. We've never done that have we?"

A grin flashed over his face and Abby smiled back, then pulled McGee's chair over to sit down. She caught a glimpse of the screen.

"You're seriously working on the Palmer-case?"

The Palmer-case had been exactly what she had had in mind when she set off from home.

"The evidence is still quite thin and Gibbs could not get a confession out of him although he took him down to Ducky."

"I know. It's just...", she didn't finish the sentence.

Tony looked at her. Usually he always had that half-mocking glint in his eyes but not now.

"Abbs, my life's a mess. I mean the part of my life that does not involve working here."

She was not sure whether she wanted to hear that.

"Did you ever notice how loud the fridge is, when everything's quiet in your flat?"

She stared at him.  
"I know this sounds crazy, but it was horrible. As if someone was hovering the floor next door for hours and hours. I needed to get out of there before I went completely mad."

He put his head in his hands.

"I tried to call Ziva, she didn't pick up the phone. Tried to call Kate next. She actually picked up and was all happy clappy joy joy merry Christmas and all. I didn't want to spoil her day. Then I thought about calling Gibbs but realised he would not be very supportive although even a head slap would be nicer than feeling like a complete idiot."

Abby grinned, took one of the files from his table and slapped him. He looked up meeting her eyes. He seemed so vulnerable, much different from his usual self.

"So this is what you're hiding", she thought. "You're always acting, playing a role and deep down inside the real you is screaming at the top of it's lungs because it is lonely and self conscious and sad."

"I'm sorry Abbs, I didn't want to say this. I am not really myself at the moment."

Abby shook her head

"I think you have never been more yourself than right now and I don't want you to apologize."

She took his hand and waited for some sarcastic remark but he didn't say anything, just squeezed her fingers a bit.

"Well Christmas is a bitch but as we are both here now and don't have anywhere else to be... why don't we have our own little Christmas party?"

She was not sure whether she really meant what she was saying. This was Tony, Tony the womanizer, Tony who was so far from her and her life as anyone could be. If it had been McGee, okay, they spoke the same language. Ducky was weird and he spoke a different language but one she understood. If it had been Gibbs... he even could do sign language.

But Tony... Tony didn't even inhabit the same universe. At least that was what she had always thought until today, until he had started talking about loud fridges, until he had told her he had been alone on Christmas night.

"We could order food and turn the lights on on the Christmas tree in the hallway", she proposed. Tony grinned and picked up his cell phone.

"Chinese or Italian?"

"I am celebrating with you, don Antonio diNozzo. I am a-not a-gonna have a-Chinese of you are here to choose the pizza."  
His smile got wider.

"Someone must have sent you here tonight, Abbs, and I am pretty sure it wasn't God. He doesn't do Goth-angels."

Abby grinnes and switched the computer off without asking for permission.

"Perhaps I am the latest invention. You know, evolution and stuff... Adam, Eve, large mess... Gothics!"

They both laughed.

Tony put the phone to his ear.

"DiNozzo here. I need a delivery..."


	2. Chapter 2

**All the lonely people – A very special Christmas**

_**A./N. Second part. Thanks for commenting! And as that came up as a question. The Palmer from the mentioned case is not an actual character from the series but just a random person.**_

**PART B  
**

"This is the best Christmas Dinner I have had in years", said Abby between two bites of veggie Pizza.

They had found the light switch for the big Christmas tree and now sat on the floor at the bottom of the stairs on a couple of rugs Abby had found in the morgue (they were stored there for shocked relatives who needed to identify their loved ones). There was a bottle of wine –a gift from the delivery service, incredibly cheap and sweet – and two huge pizzas.

"It's definitely the most unusual Christmas I ever had", grinned Tony and poured some more wine into his glass.

Abby shook her head.

"I think the one that I spent dissecting a corpse in a graveyard-chapel when I was 15 tops that."

When she noticed his glance, she raised her hands.

"What? I was a scary, scary little Goth girl, remember? I was much scarier than I am today. Gibbs forced me to become socially compatible.

Tony shrugged.

"To me, you aren't scary. Never been. You're special."

He touched her shoulder, carefully, as if he was not sure he was doing the right thing.

"Really?`", Abby beamed. Usually she would have expected this to be a joke, a typical bad DiNozzo joke, but this was not a usual day and not a usual conversation.

She pushed her pizza carton away. There was still a third left but she was not hungry any more.

"You not gonna eat this?"

Tony did not wait for an answer but took another slice and took a huge bite.

Abby leaned against the staircase.

"I'm always wondering where you guys put all that food. You and Gibbs you eat like thrice as much as I do. You should be fat."

Tony looked at his pizza slice.

"Seriously Abby. I don't have a clue. You are the mastermind with the mega IQ here. I am just an idiot who somehow ended up being a cop."

He smiled but it was a forced smile and it vanished almost immediately again.

"Did you ever notice that? Everyone on the team is smart. You're practically a genius. Ducky's weird but he's got the brain of an Elephant and never forgets anything. Ziva and Kate both read loads of books and they know what was in them afterwards. McGee might be a mess on the field but he's brilliant in his own way. And Gibbs... Gibbs might not know how to work a cell phone but he knows a whole lot of stuff he doesn't tell us about. I am the only ignorant person around. Do you know how tough that is? Seeing everyone around you is smarter than you?"

For a while it was quiet except for Tony chewing on his pizza slice. Abby struggled inside. She knew what to do but she hesitated. It was still possible he'd start laughing and tell her everything had been a joke. But no: One look into his face eliminated that possibility. This was Tony unmasked, unveiled, just his own self, his raw material.

She crawled over and hugged him. The agent seemed to freeze. He'd push her away. She was almost certain he would. But when he finally moved it was not to get rid of her. He shifted a bit, put his arms around her and pulled her close.

"Why are you here, Abby? You're not half as desperate as me. You should be out there with someone nice."

"There's no someone out there for me, Tony."

"But why?"

She noticed he was shaking as if he was about to burst into tears.

She shrugged.

"Scared, probably."

"Abby, you're a wonderful person. Because you are you. You are always yourself and there's no mask, no fake layer, everything's right on the surface or very close underneath. That is why you're so amazing and loveable and anyone who can't see that must be blind, deaf and autistic."

He stopped and bit his lip.

Abby patted his back.

"If you are like me, you're easily hurt", she responded. "That's why people usually don't do it. I wouldn't do it if I could change it."

Tony shook his head. He pulled out of the embrace a little but let his hands rest on hers.

"I always thought that was the case until I met you. But it's the other way round. Most people hurt other people's feelings because they can't see past the mask. And then the ones who got hurt will put on another fake layer to protect themselves from further harm. And underneath all these layers their soul will get crushed and crushed again and again 'til they feel that under all these layers they're completely broken. I would never hurt you Abby, because you show who you are and it's easy to avoid hurting you."

She saw that his eyes were indeed swimming with unshed tears. She had never been this close to those grey eyes before, to these full lips, the features that had become a part of her everyday life but had never looked like this.

"We should have some music", she said and got up quickly. Five minutes later she was back with her Hi Fi.

"You know that the stuff you listen to is considered unbearable noise by any other sane person?", asked Tony who had had enough time to recollect himself.

She smiled.

"I know. And that is why I brought stuff that might be okay for your cute little Italian ears. Even I own a couple of Christmas CDs and I left the Finnish heavy metal ones downstairs."

She plugged the Hi Fi in and pressed the play button.

"Voilà, the transsiberian orchestra."

She pulled him to his feet and the next moment both were jumping around to "wizards in winter".

The next piece was a slow piano tune, melancholic and sad, but beautiful nonetheless.

"Let me introduce you to Dax Johnson", said Abby. "He's already passed away but he's good."

Tony seemed to watch her with a strange intensity. He looked lost again.

"Oh come on, Tony", she smiled and took his hands. "It's Christmas. Make a happy face when you're celebrating with your favourite Goth!"

He managed a half-smile and linked his fingers with hers, pulled her into a dancing position. She had definitely never been that close to him before. She could smell his shampoo, something with peppermint. He let his chin rest on her shoulder and slowly started moving. And so they stood and danced feeling each other's heartbeat for a small eternity.

When the music ended they sat down next to the staircase again. Tony pulled one of the rugs around his and Abby's shoulders. He had not let go of her left hand and still held it now. His fingers were so much stronger than hers, her hand looked like a child's hand in his.

She wondered how it had come to this, where these feelings came from. He had told her things he probably had not even known about himself before had said them out loud. Perhaps that was it. He had let his guards down and now she didn't even care if he knew her little secret: That she owned a Christmas-mix CD which included cheesy pop-music and even the famous Wham-song. And that she knew how to dance properly. He had been surprised by that.

"How come you know how to dance a rhumba?"

And she had told him about old times when she had done a proper ballroom course after school. She had been good but the teacher had not liked her outer appearance and told her to change it. That had been the end.

Abby shivered. It had become cold.

"I didn't know they switch off the heating on holidays."

She moved closer to him and Tony pulled the rug further over her. She smiled.

She had always thought he was cute in a very-distant-never-going-to-happen way but she had never seen him as a nice, caring person.

"Abby?"

"Hm?"

"Merry Christmas", he kissed her forehead. Very lightly, his lips only brushing against if as if by accident. He turned away and blushed but she put her hand on his chin and made him look back at her. Her lips met his with determination but also very briefly.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Tony."

He seemed surprised, shocked perhaps.

"I've always liked jigsaw puzzles", Abby went on.

He frowned, not understanding what she wanted to say.

Her hand pushed gently against his chest.

"I can fix you, Tony. I sure can."

_**A./N. Shameless begging for comments and reviews. Let me know what you think! I promise to put the last part up before Christmas. **_


	3. Chapter 3

**All the lonely people – A very special Christmas**

_**A./N. Third and last bit. Thanks for your lovely comments and thanks for reading this in general. This is going to be much shorter than the first two parts. You can see it as a kind of epilogue... or the start of some new story. Who knows?**_

PART C

Abby woke up with a start. The building was still quiet and empty but she could tell with one glance to her watch that it would soon be the usual beehive again. She had a look around. The lights on the Christmas tree were still burning. The two pizza cartons were lying on the floot and she had slept in a half sitting position next to Tony DiNozzo who still had wrapped his arms around her. He looked at peace in his sleep. His breathing was deep and regular.

Okay, so she had not been dreaming. Last night had actually happened. But that did not change a thing did it? He was still the classy guy and she was still the Goth lab-rat. He'd wake up and ask her not to tell anyone what he had told her last night and to behave as if last night had not happened. He'd be polite but would make clear there was no future to this incident. It was just one of these moments that only happen because two desperate people meet in a confined space.

But - Abby sighed and let her fingers run through his hair and along his jawbone.

He moved and then suddenly opened his eyes.

"Abby", his voice was hoarse.

"I know, I know. Let's not talk about it, clean up the mess and behave as if nothing happened."

She got up but Tony's hand closed around her ankle and almost made her fall over.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you'll probably tell me in a few seconds that whatever happened yesterday is supposed to not have happened and that you want me to forget about it and never mention it."

Tony frowned.

"You really think I would say that?"

Abby shrugged.

"Pretty much, yes."

Tony got up.

"Ouch, my back. I'm going to have a limp for the rest of my life."

He stretched and then turned back to her.

"I agree with the clean up the mess part though."

With these words he picked up the cartons, folded then and pushed hem into the next bin, before he got the wine bottle and the glasses and went to hide them under his desk in the bullpen.

When he came back, Abby was about to vanish through the door to the forensics lab. He caught her half running, made her look into his eyes.

Her make-up had worn off, the lipstick was gone and the black eyeliner was not as thick as usual.

"Please, Tony. Anything you say will only... I'm all right if that is what you want to hear."

Tony stared at her.

"Abby. I appreciate you're not going to tell everyone else in the team I am a hoax and a psycho, but would you please stop running away?"

And with that he pulled her close again and pressed his lips on hers.

"Wanna have lunch later? If nobody gets himself killed and we're called out in the meantime that is."

Abby stared at him. She didn't seem to believe he was serious.

"You want to have lunch with me?"

Tony grinned.

"Hell, yeah!"

"Don't you think it would look... strange?"

"What? Why?"

"Well you... and me..."

"Abby, I don't really care. I want to have lunch with the girl who told me she could fix my heart. The only question is does she want to have lunch with me?"

For a second they only stood in the doorway her hands in his. Then a smile crept onto her face.

"Hell, yeah", she answered, "I'd love to."

I WISH ALL OF YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND AN AWESOME NEW YEAR 2013!


End file.
